pennyspoetryfandomcom-20200214-history
All Quiet Along the Potomac
"All Quiet Along the Potomac" was an American poem by Ethel Lynn Beers. History The poem was based on newspaper reports of "all is quiet tonight", which was based on official telegrams sent to the Secretary of War by Major-General George B. McClellan following the First Battle of Bull Run. Beers noticed that the report was followed by a small item telling of a picket being killed. She wrote the poem that same morning, and she read it in September 1861.Beers, All Quiet Along the Potomac, p. 350.Sargent, Harper's Cyclopaedia of British and American Poetry, p. 818: :In a private letter Mrs. Beers wrote: 'The poor 'Picket' has had so many 'authentic' claimants and willing sponsors, that I sometimes question myself whether I did really write it that cool September morning after reading the stereotyped announcement, 'All quiet,' etc., to which was added in small type, 'A picket shot!' '" It was first published as "The Picket Guard" by Ethel Lynn Beers in Harper's Weekly, November 30, 1861, attributed only to "E.B." It was reprinted broadly both with that attribution and without, leading to many spurious claims of authorship. On July 4, 1863, Harper's Weekly told its readers that the poem had been written for the paper by a lady contributor whom it later identified as Beers.Davidson, The Living Writers of the South, p. 201: "Dr. A.H. Guernsey, editor of Harper's Magazine wrote to Mr. Harris a letter, dated Franklin Square, New York, March 22, 1868, in which he says:— 'The facts are just these: The poem bearing the title The :Picket-Guard, appeared in Harper's Weekly for November 30, 1861. I send you a copy of the paper of that date, which will establish this fact. It was furnished by Mrs. Ethel Beers, a lady whom I think incapable of palming off as her own any production of another." In 1863, the poem was set to music by John Hill Hewitt, himself a poet, newspaperman, and musician, who was serving in the Confederate army. This poem may have inspired the title of the English translation of Erich Maria Remarque's World War I novel All Quiet on the Western Front. References *Beers, Ethel Lynn. All Quiet Along the Potomac, and Other Poems. Philadelphia: Porter & Coates (1879). *Davidson, James Wood. The Living Writers of the South ''. New York: Carleton, Publisher (1869). *Fontaine, Lamar; J.H. Hewitt (m.). "All Quiet Along the Potomac To-night" (Sheet Music). Columbia, S.C.: Julian A. Selby (1863). *Graham, C.R. (ed.). ''Under Both Flags: A Panorama of the Great Civil War. Veteran Publishing Company (1896). *LaBree, Ben. Camp Fires of the Confederacy. Louisville, KY: Courier-Journal Job Printing Company (1898). *Matthews, Bander (ed.); N.C. Wyeth (illus.) Poems of American Patriotism. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons (1922). *Sargent, Epes (ed.). Harper's Cyclopaedia of British and American Poetry. New York: Harper & Brothers (1882). Notes External links *Ethel Lynn Beers 1827-1879 at the Poetry Foundation * All Quiet Along the Potomac and other poems at Internet Archive. Category:Songs of the American Civil War Category:1861 songs Category:1861 poems Category:Works originally published in Harper's Weekly Category:Works published anonymously Category:Text of poem